


Prelude

by Wierdkid20



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, The Beginning, gem origin's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-15 16:25:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wierdkid20/pseuds/Wierdkid20
Summary: Before Cookie Cats and Rebellion and the discovery of Earth, there was a time when diamonds were simply another type of gem and Homeworld was not the bastion of Gem civilization as we know it now. Back at the beginning when a group of rebels lead by a charismatic leader carved out a new life for themselves on a planet full of potential.





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently we're going to play "How many projects can Wierdkid20 work on at the same time without going insane?" This is an idea that's been lurking around the back of my head for a few days now so we'll see what comes of it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> minor text edit 6-27-18 just to make the characters roles a bit more cohesive

Only a few of them made it out of the grips of their creators. Diamond surveyed their cramped, stolen, escape ship. It was still able to fly after their harrowing escape, thanks to Silicate’s puttering. Iron had the controls and Sandstone paced restlessly.

 

“Diamond.” Amber said, not for the first time. Diamond snapped her head back around and rubbed the edge of the gem set into her forehead.

 

“Right, my apologies, tell me about this star system.” She said. The star map flickered as there was another lurch in the ships engines and the lights in the rest of the cockpit flickered. “Silicate!” Diamond called to the back where the gem was fastening a loose wire.

 

“I’m fixing it, I’m fixing it! It’s all under control!”  the tinny voice called back.

 

“You’ve said that the last six times!” Beyrl screeched from her position in the alcove that had been dubbed their ‘sick bay’ not that they got sick, but it suited the situation.

 

“Beyrl, calm down, you’ll exacerbate your crack!” Diamond snapped. Both gems grumbled irritatedly and Diamond turned back to Amber with a sigh. Everyone was on edge, whether it be from shapeshifting, cracked gem, faulty machinery or the fear of what comes next. And Diamond had to keep them together, why they kept looking to her for answers she did not know but she couldn’t let them down.

 

“You sound like one of them, you know.” Amber said with an amused expression that wrinkled the edge of her form around the gem set into her eye.  “Giving us orders and keeping us in line.” Diamond flinched and frowned.

 

“I didn’t mean to-” She began, Amber punched her lightly in the arm.

 

“Don’t worry about it Diamond, you’re better than them.” Amber said with a grin. “Any way this star system, three suitable planets, one of which seems to have the resources for future implantation if we wish.”

 

“Is it safe?” Diamond asked giving the cockpit another glance. “Any organic life? Easily defensible?”

 

“No organic life other than plants, as for easily defensible, you’re the strategist, I’m just a fact finder.” Amber said with a shrug. Diamond smiled slightly and shook her head as she inspected the planets closely.

 

“You’re more than that you clod.” Diamond said. “We’re all more than what we were made to be at this point.”

 

“Yes, yes, We’ve all heard your rhetoric.” Sandstone said “But can we save it when we’re not on this hunk of junk any more?”

 

“Alright alright,” White Diamond said. “Iron, we’ve got coordinates for you.”

 

“Excellent.” Iron said, her voice much softer than her frame would imply. She turned the side of her head with her gem towards the two of them. “A new beginning would do us all good.”


	2. New Gems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so weird to have something approximating a regular fanfiction update schedule. Hopefully you guys are enjoying this, it's not much but I needed something that wasn't intricately plotted and being written at a million miles an hour.

Sandstone was the closest thing they had to an expert in this. The rest of them had had their assigned tasks, but Sandstone had worked in the quarries. She at least knew how a kindergarten was supposed to be laid out. 

 

Beyrl remembered the materials that needed to go into the injector formula, but the ratio’s were done through trial and error. 

 

Silicate and Iron ran soil samples in between exploring this new planet and erecting the buildings necessary to make life a little more liveable. 

 

Diamond, and Amber mixed the formula and set the drills. The first 500 produced no results. The next 500 were equally fruitless, a third of them failed to incubate to the full term and the remainder never even implanted. Finally, with their third batch, they got one. 

 

“What do we tell them?” Amber asked as they sat around the fire. They had largely relocated to the partially drained quarry to wait for their new gem to emerge.  Diamond looked down from the sketch she was making. There had been talk between Iron and Silicate of a crystalline ship body. It seemed feasible but gathering the materials, as always, was going to be difficult.

 

“Well the truth.” Diamond said. “Obviously.”

 

“The whole t-t-t-truth?” Beyrl asked, the crack in her gem had worsened and Diamond was really, really starting to worry. You couldn’t fix gems. Even ‘they’ hadn’t figured out how. Not that ‘they’ had really tried, gems were supposed to be disposable.

 

“Why not?” White shrunk, it was easier to speak to the others at roughly a third of her size.

 

“Well she’s going to be a Slate right?” Sandstone said without sitting up from where she was staring at the sky. “What do we say when she asks what her purpose is?”

 

“Why would she ask?” Iron said, “you guys didn't pre-program her or anything did you?”

 

“Not the I know of.” Amber said nervously, sifting through a pile of notes.

 

“It-t-t might have been-n-n-n-n-n included in one of the mat-t-t-t-terials.” Beyrl said, frowning. “I will look-k-k-k into it.”

 

“Don’t strain yourself.” Diamond murmured.

 

“She might know about...what we are supposed to be.” Silicate said. Diamond felt a chill wash through her core. Would this new Gem know what a hodge podge group they were? She glanced around the fire. At Iron, the soldier. At Sandstone, the quarrygem. At Silicate, the technician. At Amber, the cataloguer. At poor Beyrl, the lab assistant. And then at herself, Diamond, the trophy.

 

“It won’t matter.” Diamond said. “We’ll tell her, we, we can teach her” Diamond glanced at the impression in the wall. “She will be able to decide for herself.”

 

“That is what the point of all of this was...” Amber said. Diamond nodded firmly

 

“And that’s what it will continue to be.”


	3. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well if you know my other fic (Seditionis Adamas) you know that I like to keep on a tight schedule with my updates. this is a fic that is supposed to be more fun and loose so updates may not be as regular (though ideally they would be once a week) so thank you everyone for your patience and I hope you like what I've got here for this chapter and what comes next.

Slate was only the beginning, she wasn’t serious as the slates back ho-...back before. Instead she was endlessly fascinated by the planet she had been created on, and made  _ terrible _ jokes.  

 

“You know Iron, you really have a  _ magnetic  _ personality”

 

“I don’t know Amber, sounds like a  _ sticky _ situation.”

 

“Diamond, you’re just  _ brilliant” _

 

And so on and so forth until someone, usually Silicate, threatened to kick her into orbit. Slate did usher in a new wave of determination though. She proved that they could make more gems, and they could create a society that erased any ideas of what gems were  _ for _ . More gems began to emerge. A Ruby who manage to turn the soil around her to glass when she was surprised. An Jade who barely glanced at the stars above and asked how to get there. An Emerald who took one look at Diamond and Beyrl’s notes for the crystalline ship locked herself in a warehouse for a month, only to emerge with a fully working prototype. There were more, obsidians, tins, quartzes, coppers, no rhyme or reason to how they emerged but they were all so beautiful in their variety. 

 

Where there had once been 6 there were now a scarce hundred of them. They had more than enough space to work with. Jade, Emerald, and Iron were set of visiting a neighboring moon. Slate had scouted out countless sites for new buildings with Silicate who was trying to figure out an efficient method of faster travel. So many things to do but not enough hands to do them. The solution came from Beryl and it was of course to make more gems.

 

“We’re already making gems as fast as we can.” Sandstone said pacing the room. “And what's the point, we have time, why should we be in a rush?” Beyrl hesitated while her form glitched. When her eyes had returned to their correct place, she turned to her notes. 

 

“We know they could pick and choose which compounds to isolate for implantation, at the moment we just have to throw everything into the injectors and hope for the best.” Beyrl said. “That slows down production.”

 

“You didn’t answer the question Beyrl.” Sandstone said. Beyrl sighed.

 

“Do I really need to say it? You’re thinking it too, they’re still out there.” She said. Diamond saw Amber tighten her grip on her writing instrument. Sandstone stopped in her pacing and looked at Diamond. She wanted to say, truthfully without any doubt in her mind that they were safe. 

 

“Beyrl,” She began “We’re...” but the words would feel false. They sat in silence for a long moment until Amber spoke up.

 

“What are you proposing Beyrl?” She asked.

 

“A test site, with an abundant of materials” Beyrl said, her form flickered as she pulled up a visual of the nearby moon. “I'll isolate the materials, and we can run tests on a completely new planet.”

 

“Why not here?” Diamond asked.

 

“Too many additional factors, who know what we’ve already introduced to the soil in an attempt to stabilize ourselves here. It’s a blank slate.” Beyrl said.

 

“We already had one of those,” Amber said wryly. Beyrl groaned.

 

“Please don’t start, If I hear any more jokes I’ll finish my gems split-t-t-t-t myself.” Beyrl said. Diamond tried to laugh along with the others but her heart wasn’t in it.

 

“Fine, I’ll let Iron and Jet know, you should see if you can get Emerald working on the test compounds too, she seems to be able to come up with answers to these kinds of problems.” Diamond said. Beyrl grinned, the deep crack in her cheek gem almost matched her smile.

 

“That’s what we beyrls are for,” she said. “Problem solving.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Did you just click the kudos button and it gave you that stupid smiley face? If it did then feel free to just post 'kudos' in the Comments section! I'll get what you mean, and really appreciate it!
> 
> And If you want random musings about my writing of then come find me on Tumblr


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